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Yes, it’s a dramatic reading of a fictional young unbeliever about to get tortured forever. As Martin likes to put it: “Torture porn.”

You know, we frequently use the words “tortured forever” on the AE TV show. As in: “The central doctrine of Christianity is that you must freely worship God or else be tortured forever.” Frequently, we are criticized by kinder, gentler Christians for being melodramatic. Silly atheist, they say — nobody really believes in a god who tortures people forever. Hell is a metaphor. Read some C.S. Lewis.

No, actually I’m fairly certain that a great many mainstream Christians believe what’s in the video. That when I die, I’m going to be missing from this “book of life” and then roughed up by angelic thugs who proceed to hurl me into a quite literal lake of fire — in a world that’s “crystal clear, even more real than my life on earth.”

What I don’t get is this. Based on the sound effects and the spooky fonts, this video is clearly intended to be disturbing, and it’s targeted at Christians. But why should Christians be disturbed? Sure, maybe they should have done more to help their friend who is now in hell. But in the end, the friend was sent to hell because he deserved it. If he didn’t deserve it, then God, being merciful and all-powerful, wouldn’t have put him there. So shouldn’t a True Christian™ be celebrating the torment that his friend is now experiencing?